chore(ci): only raise Dependabot PRs for major action bumps - #1130
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Workflows reference floating major tags (`actions/checkout@v7`, `gradle/actions/setup-gradle@v6`), which the action authors move forward as minor and patch releases ship. Dependabot proposing `@v6` -> `@v6.2.0` converts a self-updating ref into a pin, and in that case would have downgraded CI, since `v6` already resolves to `v6.3.0`. Ignore minor and patch updates so Dependabot only raises the major bumps a floating tag cannot pick up on its own.
A blanket `dependency-name: "*"` would also silence minor and patch updates for actions that do not maintain a moving major tag, and that failure mode is silent. Listing them means a newly added action keeps the default behaviour: a noisy PR is easy to spot and fix, silent staleness is not.
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What's changed?
Ignore
semver-minorandsemver-patchupdates for the four actions this repo references by floating major tag, so Dependabot only opens PRs for major bumps on those.What's your motivation?
Every versioned action reference in this repo is a floating major tag:
Each author moves that tag forward as minor and patch releases ship, so CI already tracks them without any change here — all four currently resolve to the latest release:
@vNresolves toactions/checkout@v73d3c42e5actions/setup-java@v5b6effb05gradle/actions@v69c971963peter-evans/create-pull-request@v85f6978faWhen Dependabot proposes
@v6->@v6.2.0it converts a self-updating ref into a pin, which is the opposite of what we want. #1114 is a concrete example:v6already resolves to v6.3.0, so merging it would have downgradedsetup-gradleto v6.2.0 and frozen it there until the next nag. Closed in favour of this.Major bumps (
v6->v7) are the one thing a floating tag cannot pick up on its own, so those keep raising PRs.Anything in particular you'd like reviewers to focus on?
The ignore list enumerates the four actions rather than using
dependency-name: "*". A blanket rule would also silence minor and patch updates for a future action that does not maintain a moving major tag, and that failure mode is silent. With an explicit list, forgetting to add an entry just means a noisy PR — visible and easy to fix.Worth noting "official GitHub actions" would have been the wrong axis to split on:
gradle/actionsandpeter-evans/create-pull-requestare third-party and both float correctly, while anactions/*wildcard would have excluded the one that prompted this.Also note this is not a supply-chain tradeoff: nothing here is SHA-pinned today, so the churn was not buying us pinning guarantees either.
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